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Thank you to all the students, families,

teachers, LSAs and support staff who made

this year's Open Hands Christmas

hampers collection exceptional.

We collected 62 hampers which is amazing considering the financial

challenges the pandemic has placed on so many individuals and

families.

Your contributions will

make a real difference

to the recipients who

Open

Hands support all year

round.

A special mention

to 10HN, who as a

tutor group, managed to put together 6 hampers!

They really are demonstrating the 'S' from our SHINE

values!

Christmas 2020

Winstanley Life

We have had a real focus on hope this term - it is

easy in the midst of all the current challenges to

lose sight of hope. One of the quotes we have

focused on is: ‘..transform the valley of trouble in

the gateway of hope.’ I think this newsletter shows

how we have been a ‘gateway of hope for all in our

community’. That is only possible because of the

support and partnership we have got with you as

parents. As parents and students I am sure you will

want to pass your thanks on to the amazing staff

team who have made sure that students have continued to enjoy high quality

teaching and learning and know that they are loved and cared for. I also want to

thank the students for the way that they have stepped up and continually shown

their best side despite all the difficulties. It is true to say that as

a community we have been ‘shining brighter than we thought

we could.’ Finally I just want to say have a very Happy

Christmas - may you know hope at this uncertain time

and may you keep healthy and well and be

blessed with peace.

Mr Bennett, Head Teacher

A helping hand

for Open Hands

In November we all participated in

Anti Bullying Week, which began

on the Monday with Odd Socks Day, it was great to see so many students

participating and having conversations about how we can prevent bullying.

We have had huge success promoting Anti Bullying within our school and

the ongoing work around promoting our values and culture

have had a real impact on lowering incidents of bullying and

promoting kindness to others. Tutor groups created some

fantastic pledges, which together formed a jigsaw puzzle,

demonstrating if we all work together we can make a

society where everyone feels they have a role to play in

being kind and supporting others.

Jolly Jumpers On Friday 11th December staff and students joined national

Christmas Jumper Day, to raise money

for Save The Children, school was very

festive which was really uplifting as we

approach the last week of school after a

very long and difficult term. Staff have

created a montage of their hopes for

Christmas which will be shown

during assemblies this week.

You can view the video on our

website too by following this

link - Christmas Hopes.

Odd Socks kick off Anti Bullying Week

Kingsway North | Braunstone Town | Leicestershire | LE3 3BD| Tel: 0116 289 8688 | www.winstanleyschool.org.uk

Christmas 2020

Stand Up!

Remembrance 2020 Lockdown Weddings

Look after the pennies!

See what #winstanleyelf has been up to on

Instagram! @thewinstanleyschool. Make sure

you take part in his quiz, available on 17th

December, see our SM and website for details.

Winstanley Life

Kingsway North | Braunstone Town | Leicestershire | LE3 3BD| Tel: 0116 289 8688 | www.winstanleyschool.org.uk

Students have made a fantastic effort to collect loose

change and bring it to school for

Children in Need on the 13th

November. In these difficult

times it's great to see that we can

all still #supportothers, and

even a small amount from

everyone can go a long way

when we all work together.

This term Year 10 have taken part in two mock weddings to

support the GCSE Religious Studies topic on Marriage and the

Family in Christianity; The first took place on 26th November and

students played the roles of the wedding party and the service was

officiated by representatives from Friar Lane & Braunstone Baptist

Church. This year the service had to take place in our drama studio

due to current restrictions with students remaining in their class bubbles and

separated by the aisle. This did not stop it feeling like a real wedding and

created an authentic learning experience and a thoroughly enjoyable

Religious Studies lesson, the first wedding also coincided with No

Pens Day. Special thanks should go to students who played an active

role in the ceremony - Lucy, Riley, Anopa and Chey who

played the happy couples at the respective ceremonies,

and all the students who contributed with other key roles.

Special thanks to Rev David Spriggs and Marianne for

creating a realistic experience and providing this opportunity

for our students.

Earlier in the term we were

joined by Kelly and Dr Manny

Barot from the National

Holocaust Centre who delivered

workshops to our Year 8

students. They spoke to students

about how we can learn important lessons from the

horror of the holocaust, how hate crime is still happening and how students can

become ambassadors for social justice by recognising and standing up to

discrimination and hatred. Students were really engaged in hearing about Dr

Manny's experiences and they also contributed to the class discussion about

how they can become upstanders and speak out about unfair treatment

and bullying. We are glad to be able to welcome back outside

organisations who are able to provide authentic learning experiences for

our students to enrich their curriculum.

This year we knew our

Remembrance event would

be a little different, but we

still wanted to create a whole

school event. Each Tutor

Group created poppies with

their remembrance messages

on then they stood in the

shape of a poppy for a

photograph, this formed a

video which we all watched

together during our two minute silence on the 11th November

at 11am. Poppies were available for sale at reception and Mrs

Chambers also sold them during break times and raised

£119.53 in total for the poppy appeal, charities are really

struggling to raise funds during the current pandemic so this

was an amazing contribution to support such a good cause.

Colour Awards

Excellence

Independence

Year 9 and 10 have been making

Christmas cakes in baked bean tins to

make small cakes which meant they were

reusing the tin before recycling them.

They then covered the cakes in

fondant icing and made their own

decorations. Students used

modelling skills to make

figures out of icing. This

proved quite tricky, but they

persevered and the results

were fantastic. Students have

also been making gingerbread

and mince pies.

SHINE Let yourself

Kingsway North | Braunstone Town | Leicestershire | LE3 3BD| Tel: 0116 289 8688 | www.winstanleyschool.org.uk

Supporting Others

Never Giving Up

Hard Work Well done to all of the students who have been selected for Hot Chocolate with the

Head this term. Each Friday four students are chosen from a year group to have a chat

with Mr Bennett in recognition of the progress they are making.

Keep a look out every Friday on

Twitter.

Congratulations to Mr Bennett, who has

recently won the prestigious Leicestershire

Live Head Teacher of the Year award. He

was nominated for the amazing work he did

bringing the school community together

during lockdown and providing both staff

and students with many opportunities to feel

involved and cared for. He is thrilled to

have won and stated that the award is

recognition for the whole school working

together to create an environment where

everyone feels

included and

have a positive

contribution to

make.

In November No Pens Day was a big hit with our students

with all year groups participating. The day is designed

to encourage verbal communication skills which help

students achieve not only at school but in their future lives

too, promoting confidence and independence. Here are

just a few of the fantastic activities staff used in their lessons:-

Art appraisal, creating different parts of a river system in play doh,

Slam poetry, mathematical origami, creating a board game in

Business Studies, mood board collage in English Literature, verbal

problem solving in Maths, presenting ideas to solve environmental

problems in Geography, developing working memory skills in

Maths using a fun game and Dragons Den in Media Studies.

Students really enjoyed trying new strategies and

developing their speaking skills.

On Tuesday

15th

December

we were yet

again treated

to an

amazing

Christmas

lunch

prepared by our Catering Team.

Throughout these difficult times they

have continued to support us all by

preparing healthy and nutritious

meals which are now prepared for several

different lunch breaks, special thanks

should also go to our premises team and

cleaners who have continued to work hard

and keep us all safe by keeping everywhere

clean throughout the school day.

Towards the end of this term we have held our Colour

Awards. Two students are selected for every subject for

their hard work, effort and excellence and are awarded a

‘colour’ badge which they can wear on their blazer. Due to

current restrictions we

held the assemblies for

two tutor groups at a

time. Look out on

social media in the new

year for the list of

students and the

subjects they have

been recognised in.